The Habit Loop
January is a time of new beginnings, self-reflection, and goal setting, and it’s a great time to recommit to the creation of routines and self-care in your schedule – including YOGA! Life gets busy, and if you don’t make your yoga practice a priority, it can easily fall by the wayside. Which is why carving out time and creating a routine is so important. Plan ahead, and then, if life gets in the way, you still have a plan and pattern to follow the next day. And the next. And the next.
Here is the fun nerdy science part. The Habit Loop. Behind every habit or pattern in your life, there is a steady structure in place. It looks like this:
“First is the cue, the trigger from the environment that tells your brain to go into autopilot and which habit to use. Next is the routine, which can be a mental or physical action you take whenever presented with the cue. And lastly is the reward, which is what you get from the habit that fulfills a craving in your brain.” – From The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
This pattern of cue–>routine–>reward will become automatic as it is repeated over and over. The repeated behavior becomes entrenched, and eventually…..little by little becomes habit. The best way to maximize the benefit of your yoga practice is straight up consistency. Just keep coming. And in order for that to happen, you must create a habit.
- Make an Appointment with Yourself: Use the Funky Buddha Yoga App or website to plan your yoga practice for the week. Put it on your calendar. Commit to yourself. Once you’ve set an ‘appointment’ for yourself, it’s easier to make sure it happens.
- Establish your “Cue.” Examples:
- Bring your yoga clothes to work and change before you leave, next stop yoga! (Cue: Put on Yoga Clothes at Work).
- Every day when you drop your kids off to school, your next stop is the yoga studio! (Cue: Drop Off Kids.)
- Alarm goes off: Yoga clothes on, head straight to 6am yoga! (Cue: Alarm)
- Routine: Do Yoga!
- Reward: Usually just the physical feeling of release in Savasana!
- Could be the rewarding feeling of pushing through a tough class.
- Or taking Child’s Pose in the middle of class to take care of yourself.
- You can also be more proactive in setting up goals for yourself like gold stars in your planner or a healthy dinner out once you follow your yoga plan for 2 weeks.
Just a note, missing a day is NOT detrimental to the habit creation. Beating yourself up for missing a day IS! The beating-yourself-up part causes a negative affirmation, rather than positive, and you’ll start seeing the behavior/yoga practice as stressful. If you miss a day, no worries, just plan better for tomorrow and make sure you are vigilant about saving that time for yourself! You. Are. Worth. It.
It is easy to love yoga, but sometimes getting to class (consistently) is the hard part. Commit to setting yourself up for success by planning a head and following your habit of practicing yoga daily/3times a week (or whatever your goal is for yourself). (And be nice to yourself if you miss a class!)
